Arts and entertainment reports from The Times, national and international news services and the nation’s press.

TELEVISION

$7-Million Man: All three major network news anchors now belong to the $7-million-a-year club, sources say. CBS’ Dan Rather this week doubled his estimated $3.5-million annual salary to $7 million, while extending his contract with CBS through the year 2002. CNN had recently made a run at Rather, 66, whose “The CBS Evening News” has been on a ratings upswing. Meanwhile, ABC’s Peter Jennings, 59--who is said to make $7 million a year--quietly re-signed with ABC several months ago, while NBC’s Tom Brokaw, 57, got a reported raise to $7 million when he re-signed with NBC this fall.

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PTA’s NBC Assignment: The National PTA plans to use its 6.7 million members to pressure NBC to use the enhanced TV ratings adopted by the rest of the industry. “We’re going to ask our members to visit and write their local NBC affiliates, asking them to urge NBC to provide the content-based TV ratings that parents need,” PTA spokesman Arnold Fege told The Times. “NBC can’t just decide like Big Daddy that they’re not going to do what the other networks have agreed to do.” NBC, which continues to provide the previous age-based system without additional symbols for sex, language and violence, has maintained that the enhanced ratings were achieved through governmental intrusion in free speech. A network spokeswoman said Tuesday that the PTA effort will not affect NBC’s position.

ART

Ono Won’t Prosecute: Authorities have dropped criminal charges against an art student who claimed he was following Yoko Ono’s advice when he defaced several of her stark black-and-white paintings at a Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center exhibition three weeks ago. “[Ono] had no interest in prosecuting him,” Hamilton County Prosecutor Joseph Deters said of Jake Platt, 22, of Seattle. Witnesses said Platt used a red marker to draw lines across five of Ono’s paintings valued at $10,000 apiece. Platt said he acted in response to a statement accompanying the exhibition quoting Ono as saying touching artworks should not be forbidden. An exhibition pamphlet ambiguously suggested viewers add to her works. Museum director Charles Desmarais--who said the museum may still take civil action against Platt if its insurance company suggests such a move--said the pamphlet statement applied to Ono’s sculptures, not her paintings.

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Guilty Trader: Pop artist Peter Max, 60, pleaded guilty Monday to tax fraud for not giving the IRS its share from more than $1 million worth of art that he bartered to pay for real estate. The two counts of conspiracy and tax evasion carry a maximum 10-year prison term. Sentencing is set for Feb. 11.

STAGE

‘Scarlet’ CD: In an apparently unprecedented promotion for a Broadway show, a CD offering three songs from the new musical “The Scarlet Pimpernel” appeared in selected home delivered copies of the New York Times Tuesday--380,000 in the New York area and 13,000 in the L.A. area. “It’s the best way for the show to speak for itself,” said spokesman Michael Hartman, who declined to disclose the cost. Though there is no scheduled run of the show in L.A., the market was included because “the [film/TV] industry is there”--including the show’s own chief producer, TV mogul Pierre Cossette. The promotion comes on the heels of a New York Times review, in which theater critic Ben Brantley panned the show, describing it as “a series of ornately costumed tableaux for which the cardinal rule appears to have been: Don’t just do something, stand there.”

POP/ROCK

Barbie Goes to Court, Again: MCA Records has filed a countersuit against toy maker Mattel, claiming the latter “accused MCA of crimes and subjected MCA to hatred, contempt, ridicule or obloquy” by calling an MCA act’s song, “Barbie Girl,” a form of “theft.” The record label’s defamation suit is the latest volley caused by “Barbie Girl,” a song on the debut album of the Danish quartet Aqua. In September, Barbie-maker Mattel filed the initial suit, claiming the song’s lyrics associated sexual themes with its toys. The ado has turned “Barbie Girl” into an international hit.

QUICK TAKES

Elizabeth Taylor will take on the Internet when she holds her first online chat on Nov. 19 at 6 p.m. The occasion: the 10th anniversary of her fragrance, Passion. The address: www.jcpenney.com. . . . Former “Lois & Clark” star Teri Hatcher and her husband, actor Jon Tenney, welcomed their first child, daughter Emerson Rose, on Monday in Los Angeles. . . . NBC has canceled the Saturday night drama “Sleepwalkers” after just two low-rated telecasts, with a National Geographic special to take its place this week. The network will also bring back “The Tony Danza Show” beginning Dec. 3, airing Wednesdays at 8:30 p.m. between two episodes of “3rd Rock From the Sun.” . . . ABC has canceled its Saturday night series “Total Security.” . . . Kevin Consey, who directed the former Newport Harbor Art Museum from 1983-89, has announced his resignation as director and CEO of Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art, after eight years. Consey plans to leave the museum in September, when he will enroll in Kellogg Graduate School’s MBA program at Northwestern University and work as a consultant and teacher. . . . Andy Schuon, MTV’s executive vice president of programming, has departed the network. No reason was given for Schuon’s departure. Van Toffler, formerly president of MTV Productions, has been named to the newly created position of general manager of MTV and will manage the station’s daily operations. . . . The Baked Potato in Pasadena (26 E. Colorado Blvd.), which featured jazz, Latin jazz, fusion and occasional pop bands, has closed, apparently due to a shortage of business. The original Baked Potato at 3787 Cahuenga Blvd. in North Hollywood continues to present music seven nights a week.